Friday, April 25, 2025

Video Game Review #573: In The Hunt

In The Hunt
Arcade


Before Playing:

In The Hunt was released back in 1993. I was 11 years old. I went to a lot of video game arcades and bowling alleys back then, but for some reason, I never encountered In The Hunt. In fact, I had never even heard of the game until here in the year 2025 - 32 years after the game's initial release date. 

My interest was immediately piqued when I saw screenshots of the game. The pixel art and the bright and colorful water graphics called out to me. I figured I'd fire it up on the Retropie and give it a shot. Is it worth playing? Let's check it out.




Story:

There really isn't any kind of story that's explained in the game. There's a brief cutscene that shows you piloting your sub through a school of whales, as you are told to infiltrate the enemy base and defeat the enemy. I have to say, I loved the little touch with the school of whales. Immediately it gave the game some quirk.

Controlling a submarine, you play through a series of stages, each marked with a different date and location. You're fighting against an evil organization that wants to take over the world. They've got a lot of advanced weaponry and tech on their side. At the end, when you defeat them you beat the game.

*shrugs*

That's all I got for you.




Gameplay:

In The Hunt is a side-scrolling, underwater shooting game. It is a lot of fun when you first pick it up. Right away, I was immediately drawn into the action. There's explosions everywhere, you can destroy things in the environment, and the action is fast and furious. 

You control a submarine. There are two fire buttons: a button to fire forward ahead of you, and a button that fires up and down simultaneously. I found myself just constantly mashing both buttons as I played. Enemies come from above you, below you, behind you, and in front of you. Get hit once and you die. That's why it is always important to just keep firing all your weapons no matter what. The goal is to wipe them out the second they appear on screen.

Things are relatively manageable for the first stage or two. After that, the game kicks into high gear. Strategy goes out the window. There is just SO MUCH on screen at one time trying to kill you. It almost becomes futile to try and avoid it. And this is what I don't like about arcade shooters. They are designed to steal your quarters and keep you playing. Strategy and careful gameplay go right out the window. Things devolve into a battle of attrition. Die, respawn, take advantage of your temporarily invincibility to wreak havoc on your enemies, die a few seconds after the invincibility wears off. Repeat the cycle. That's essentially how things worked the entire second half of the game. Same pattern, same thing over and over again. Not particularly compelling from a gameplay perspective.

I do like the chaos in the sense that you can constantly destroy things in the environment, and that you can knock pieces off of your enemies. It is very satisfying to destroy a bridge in episode two, and perhaps even more satisfying to blast away at a freaking iceberg with missiles, guns, and lasers in episode one. I recently watched Titanic before playing this, and all I could think was "this one's for you, Jack!"

You can pick up extra weapons and power ups as you play. I could never figure out which letter did what. I'd just collect whatever they'd put in front of me. Not that I got to keep it very long because I kept getting hit and dying.

The game from beginning to end takes about 25 to 30 minutes. I didn't actually pay attention to how much time had passed as I was playing. It may have been shorter than that. I think the game is six or so stages long, and each one takes a couple minutes to beat. It doesn't seem too short and it does not overstay its welcome. It's the perfect length. I think if it had been any longer, I would have started to tire of it.




Graphics:

The game looks fantastic. The graphics are pretty much the reason I played this game to begin with. I love the bright and colorful pixel art and the imaginative design of the game world. The explosions and water effects look really good. It's almost constant chaos from the second the game starts until it ends, yet the game is up to the challenge visually every step of the way. 




Sound:

In The Hunt has some great music. It often felt like I was listening to a Sonic game. Techno, fast paced, booming, crunchy. The entire game has a Genesis vibe to it when it comes to the music and sound effects. I don't know how exactly to describe that - a Genesis vibe. I guess if you know, you know.




Overall:

This game makes a great first impression. The presentation, the music, the graphics, the fast pace, and the over-the-top action really draws you in. I'll admit, when I first started playing this game, my first reaction was this is fucking awesome.

Unfortunately, the love affair started to end pretty quickly. I think it was when I was playing the third level. I started to think: okay, I am ready for this to be done soon. The game is fun, sure, but it is repetitive as all getout. It started to get difficult, too, to the point where I was dying every minute or so. Eventually that became every few seconds. And then it was pretty much immediate.

There's nothing fun about games that require no strategy. All this game is, is a battle to see how many quarters you can afford to put in to continue. You die, you come back and you use your limited invincibility to damage as many enemies as you can, and then you die within a second or two of this power running out. And then you repeat. Run out of lives, pop in another quarter, and do it again. And again. And again. Luckily I was only playing this on my Retropie, so I did not have to worry about putting money into the machine. Because I'm sure it would have cost me a small fortune to make it through this one.

Should you play In The Hunt? For all my criticisms, I do like the game and I am glad I played it. I see that it has a two-player mode. Maybe it would be more fun to play with a partner? Unfortunately, I played this one solo. But yes, I do think you should play it. It does a lot of stuff really, really well. I just wish it was more fun to play.


THE GRADE:
C+


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Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Another Fantastic Record Tape (17)



(00:00:00)

Mad TV
 - Lost spoof. Jeff Probst comes onto the island and there's a flashback to his Survivor host audition. He poisons Colby Donaldson to get the job. At the end of this skit, Fantasy Island people walk onto the beach. "De plane, de plane!"
 - 7 AM Condo Report. This is the Oscar special episode. They bring in guests to talk about movies, including a crazy old man who is looking for strawberries.
 - Skit where there's a TV show about Wal Mart employees called the Big Store

Eye for an Eye with Extreme Akim begins. A large woman sues a man because she feels she was discriminated against because she didn't a job because of her image.

This cuts out after a minute or two to the ending credits of Mad TV. Jeff Probst reads off votes with his cats' names and acts silly.

Extreme Akim (cont) The lawsuit continues. People in the audience bash the man who was doing the hiring because he admitted that appearances played a factor. During commercial break, the audience chants "Extreme Akim!" over and over again. What the hell kind of judge show is this? He doles out a punishment to the man and makes him wear a fatsuit and sends him to a bar to try and pick up women. He learns his lesson not to judge people on appearances.

(35:23)

COPS
 - Two men arrested in a trashy trailer park that looks like a garbage dump. One of them tries to run.
 - White trash biker looking guy is pulled over in a stolen vehicle. Inside the car a bunch of checks are found where the ink is washed off of them.

Small clip from some show or movie where Imaginary Love by Rufus Wainwright is playing in the background. 

American Idol 4. Top 10 guys perform.
 - Mario Vazquez: I Love Music
 - Anwar Robinson: What's Going On
 - Joseph Murena: Let's Stay Together
 - David Brown: All is Fair in Love
 - Constantine Maroulis: Hard To Handle
 - Scott Savol: Never Too Much
 - Travis Tucker: All Night Long
 - Nikko Smith: Let's Get it On
 - Anthony Fedorov: I Wanna Know What Love Is
 - Bo Bice: Whipping Post
 - Recap. Oh wow, I actually recorded everyone

Crank Yankers
 - Man calls a hunting shop wanting to talk about hunting a Bigfoot
 - Man calls a bait shop asking for advice on what to do about a human head he found inside of a shark he caught. He says it's on his mantel for decoration and he plays with it.
 - Man calls a restaurant asking if he can film an outrageous skit there where Johnny Knoxville cuts off his toe and has the chefs cook it and serve it to Ashton Kucher
 - Man calls a clothing shop saying he is going to organize a fur protest outside

(1:36:17)

AI4. Top 10 girls perform.
 - End of Aloha's performance. We don't see any singing but we do hear what the judges say.
 - Lindsay Cardinale sings some Jesus song
 - Jessica Sierra: Broken Wing
 - Mikalah Gordon: God Bless the Child
 - Celena Rae - When the Lights Go Down
 - Nadia Turner sings some song I don't know with a lot of "whoah"s in it
 - Amanda Avila: Turn the Beat Around
 - Janay Castine: Hit Em Up With Style. Two thumbs up!
 - Carrie Underwood - Piece of My Heart
 - Vonzell Solomon - If I Ain't Got You
 - End of episode recap

(2:05:22)

Amazing Race 7 Premiere. I'm not a big fan of the show but I recorded this because Rob and Amber are on. 

In the commercials it cuts to a short Discovery Health clip where babies are being born

Amazing Race (cont) Rob and Amber are the third team to finish. The hillbillies are last and are eliminated. So sad :(

(3:36:54)

Mad TV
 - Excitable black guy wants Morgan Freeman to hook him up in the movie industry
 - Lorraine comes to look at a car that's for sale and is annoying, of course
 - Spy vs Spy skit

Trigger Happy TV
 - Yoga instructor makes student pose and then leaves
 - Rude bellhop in front of a hotel screams for a taxi and belches
 - Woman marries a man in a rat suit
 - Person in chicken suit dances around in a grocery store
 - People in restaurant dance when a woman orders ice water. They also storm out when chicken taquitos are ordered.
 - Marching band member comes into a bookstore and makes a lot of noise

ESPN college basketball highlights. Wisconsin beats Indiana with an Alondo Tucker putback at the buzzer.

Trigger Happy TV (cont)
 - People in animal costumes walk behind an old man and turn around every time he looks back
 - Angry man on a cell phone screams into the phone and rage quits his job
 - Man gets a massage fron a woman in the mall, and halfway through it she switches out for a guy in an executioner's outfit
 - Man poses for picture in front of a vehicle with a guy tied up in the trunk
 - The rude bellhop again. This time he picks up a woman's dog and runs away with it.

AI4 results show
 - Celena Rae eliminated
 - Aloha eliminated
 - Last performance night reviewed
 - David Brown and Joseph Murena are also eliminated

(4:15:01)

Richard Hatch tax evasion case discussed on CNN Headline News 

Mad TV
 - Crazy blonde girl with the gloves competes in a pageant and is of course annoying and embarasses her dad. I found it in this clip that her name is Dot, so if she appears on a future tape this is what I will refer to her as.
 
The Simpsons - Homer replaces his dad as a Wal Mart greeter when he gets injured. Bart picks on Lisa and she files a restraining order against him. Gary Busey makes a guest appearance on a VHS tape explaining restraining orders. I think that's the only reason I recorded this episode was because of him.

COPS
 - The police pull over a stolen vehicle and arrest the occupants inside. There's not too much exciting here, the main reason it's on the tape is because one of the people arrested is a woman with a fabulous mullet.

(4:44:22)

AI4. Top 8 guys perform
 - Scott Savol - Sugar Pie Honey Bunch
 - Bo Bice - I'll Be
 - Anthony Fedorov sings some Spanish sounding song. Simon says he has the Latin flair of a polar bear.
 - Nikko Smith - Georgia On My Mind
 - Travis Tucker sings some Bobby Brown song
 - Mario Vazquez sings that song about mending broken hearts
 - Constantine Maroulis - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
 - Anwar Robinson - What a Wonderful World

AI4. Top 8 girls perform
 - Amanda Avila sings some Tina Turner song that I don't recognize
 - Janay Castine sings some song I don't know and sucks
 - Carrie Underwood sings a country song
 - Vonzell Solomon - Respect
 - Nadia Turner - Try a Little Tenderness
 - Lindsay Cardinale - I Don't Want To Miss a Thing
 - Mikalah Gordon sings some slow and boring song and sucks

*brief break during commercials... Billy Graham talks about Jesus stuff*

AI4 (cont)
 - Jessica Sierra - The Boys Are Back In Town
 - End of episode recap

(5:53:15)

AFV... the Bob Saget era
 - Kid on toilet gets mad because he (or she, I can't tell) is being filmed
 - Cow spits at camera
 - The three naked babies by the tub clip again
 - Two people look at camera and can't figure out how to work it
 - Praying mantis jumps on camera
 - Football player runs into camera
 - Bob Saget speaks Canadian
 - Little kids say funny things
 - Man scared at Halloween
 - Giant Raggedy Anne falls in pool
 - Sylvester Stallone impersonator. Whoah! It looks just like him.
 - Power Ranger kicks himself in the head
 - Vibrating floor scares people
 - Funny dog clips
 - Sheep headbutts ducks
 - Cow stands in middle of road
 - Cat scares cattle
 - Pig drops a donut in water and eats it
 - Little kid cries when he gets cow poop on his hand
 - Groom kisses best man
 - Man proposes to a woman on a Ferris wheel in Paris
 - Cheesy infomercial about "This" tool. Really lame.
 - Little girl pushes her sister down while singing I love my sister, and it wins. When he interviews the girl she sings I love Bob Saget instead.

(6:05:18)

Ripley's Believe It or Not
 - Guy makes a snake enter his nose and come out his mouth. Ew!

Full House clip. It's the episode where they sing Yankee Doodle Dandy, but the tape cuts out before the singing begins. Damn!


END OF TAPE





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Sunday, April 20, 2025

Video Game Review #572: Mansion of Hidden Souls

Mansion of Hidden Souls
Sega CD


Before Playing:

I had never played Mansion of Hidden Souls until now. I'd heard the name in passing before, sure. But seeing as how I never owned a Sega CD growing up, it is one of those games that completely fell off my radar.

What prompted me to play it here in 2025, 32 years after the game's initial release? I listened to a podcast about it. It's a podcast called Retrovaniacs. Most of the hosts disliked the game, but there was one host who was very passionate about it. He even went so far as to say it was possibly his favorite game of all time. It was his passion that inspired me to finally check out this game. So here we are.

Let's dive in.




Story:

Maybe the manual does a better job at explaining things, but the game doesn't give you too many hints as to what is going on. Listening to the podcast in advance helped, because I'm not sure I would have understood the game if I had come into it blind.

Essentially, you control an unnamed character who is looking for his sister. His sister has wandered into this "Mansion of Hidden Souls." There is a curse in the mansion that turns everyone who enters it into a butterfly if they don't leave in a certain amount of time. So it's your job to find your sister and get her out of there before she is turned into a butterfly forever.

As you explore the mansion, the previous occupants (who have already turned into butterflies) talk to you and give you little clues about what is going on and what you need to do next. 

It's a somewhat surreal game. I cared more about exploring the environment and taking in the sights than I did the story. The story is kind of weak. But as a whole package (environment, exploration, and story combined) it works.




Gameplay:

This is one of the most simple games you'll ever play. You don't really do much but walk around and look at things. I guess you could say this is one of the very first walking simulators out there.

The game starts in a mansion hall that is shockingly similar to the original Resident Evil. Open space, big red staircase going up the middle of the room, wooden doors on the sides of the room. You can look around from the first person perspective. There is no clicking or moving a mouse around. All you do is use left and right on the d-pad to point your character in the direction you want him to move, and then press up to move him forward.

The goal of the game is to explore the mansion. Normally when you enter a room, some kind of cutscene involving the butterflies will start. Then you search the room and find a key. Sometimes just coming into a room and looking around will trigger something in another room. You basically just want to trigger all the scenes and advance the story. Eventually you'll be able to get everywhere in the mansion.

The first place I got stuck was in a room with candles. I had picked up a lighter, so I knew I had to light the unlit candle. But that didn't trigger anything. I must have spent 20 minutes snuffing and lighting candles randomly before I gave up and searched for the solution online. Apparently, there is a certain pattern in which the candles need to be lit. I must not have been paying attention when the game showed me a dartboard with the pattern on it. Woops.

Once I made it past that part, the game took a slightly more difficult turn. You explore the lower levels of the mansion, and there is a room that instantly kills you if you walk into the water. That's annoying. As you advance the story, there is a character that chases you in a hallway and can kill you if he touches you. Shortly after that, a timer starts where you must complete the rest of the game in one hour. I hate being on a timer, but luckily the game is not too hard.

The only other part that tripped me up was a section at the end where there is a series of doors in front of you, and you have to pick the right door each time or you are transported backwards in the mansion, and you lose precious time. Apparently the solution to the puzzle is that you can only pick doors with multiples of three on them, or some kind of nonsense like that. I would have been able to make it through easily with time to spare if I just trial and errored my way through it. Instead I looked for the solution online. Plus I remember them talking about it on the podcast.

Right after the door puzzle, the game ends and you see the ending credits and cutscenes. The whole game takes about two hours, give or take.




Graphics:

This game looks rough. It's blurry, it's grainy, it's absurdly pixelated. The picture quality is scrunched and terrible. But you know what? I still kind of like it. The game is a product of its time, obviously. It may not look like much now, but the truth of the matter is that back in 1993, I would have thought that it looked absolutely incredible.

Even though I realize it doesn't look particularly good by today's standards, I still feel charmed by the graphics of this game. And I like the atmospheric vibe of the mansion, especially as you get closer to the end of the game. It's clear that this game was an inspiration for Resident Evil and future games to come.




Sound:

The music and atmospheric sound effects are pretty good. The game has a cheesy B-movie feel to it, that is conveyed well by the musical score. The voice acting on the other hand is terrible. But what can you expect from a game from 1993? I couldn't understand what was being said a decent amount of the time. There's one particularly plot heavy point in the game where they finally take the time to explain some things, and you can barely hear what the narrator is saying.

So as far as the game's sound goes, it is a mixed bag.




Overall:

I liked my time with the game, but overall I can't say I was enamored by it. It was okay. It was mid, as the youngsters like to say.

I'm glad I played it, though, as it satisfied a long standing curiosity with me. As I said before, I never had a Sega CD as a kid. Now that I'm an adult and have access to the system's full library, I just love exploring titles I never had the chance to play when I was younger. And Mansion of Hidden Souls is one of them.

That said, the game itself is only slightly above average. I enjoyed it and had fun overall, but it could have been better. Things could have been explained better, like what exactly the book does. Seriously, I kept trying to use it in every room, and nothing would ever happen. I later found out that using the book saves the game. So all I was doing was just saving over and over again in every room. What a waste of time! I suppose if I had read the manual, I would have known that.

So yeah: this is a slightly above average game. And boy, do I ever have the perfect review score for that?


THE GRADE:
C+


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Thursday, April 17, 2025

Video Game Review #571: Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory
PlayStation 2


Nostalgia Factor:

Although Maximo seems to be forgotten by most gamers, there was a lot of buildup for it when it came out in 2002. I remember seeing it all over the game magazines, and getting super hyped for it. It was promoted as a next-gen 3D spiritual successor to the Ghosts 'n Goblins series. I was always a huge fan of that series. As a result, this is one of those rare instances where I went out and purchased a game right away. Normally I wait for games to hit the bargain bin, but not this one.

My memories of the game are very limited. I only played through the game that one time, back in 2002, and then I never picked it up again. So it's been a good 23 year gap between playthroughs. I was essentially a different person back in 2002. I was living with my girlfriend Colleen. I remember playing this game with her nephew Yoshi when he would come over to visit us.

What do I remember about the game itself? I remember the first few levels. I remember the game being difficult. I remember that I did, in fact, beat the game. I remember kind of having a good time with it, but I don't remember it being a particularly standout title at all

How would I feel about the game 23 years later? Surprisingly good, actually! It is much better than I remember. Keep reading for my full thoughts.




Story:

This isn't really a game you play for its story. Controlling Maximo, you must rescue four sorceresses that have been imprisoned by the evil Achille. Once you've rescued them all, you take the fight to Achille's doorstep. Defeat Achille, rescue your girlfriend, and the game is over.




Gameplay:


I admit, I was not super stoked to return to the game when I first fired it up. As vague as my memories are, I remember the game being difficult. It's not that I like to shy away from a challenge or anything, but I only get an hour or two to play games every day. I don't want to waste my time on something that's just going to piss me off the whole time. Luckily, Maximo did not do that. The game almost immediately won me over. 

Let me explain how the game works. It is a behind the back 3D platformer. Controlling the titular character, you use a sword to fight enemies. You have a standard strong and weak attack. You can jump. You can double jump. You can duck. You can block attacks with your shield. Heck, you can even throw your shield at enemies. As you play, you are constantly picking up power-ups that "buff up" your character.

There are five main worlds, each with a central hub filled with stages you can pick from. Think of the hub for each world as the castle from Super Mario 64. Before you can access the hub, however, you must complete one stage first. Then, you can pick which order in which you'd like to complete the rest of the stages. Beat all the stages in a world, and you gain access to a boss character, who you must face in battle. Defeat him, and you move onto the next world.

Stages are filled with gold coins, which you can use in the hub to save your game and fast travel between worlds. You also collect blue spirit whisp things, which give you ancient coins you use to continue when you run out of lives. There are also armor and character upgrades you can purchase in the game from kiosks. Enemies drop items and coins all the time. You'll find each stage is filled with hidden chests and locked doors. You are constantly picking up keys to open these things, which often lead to armor, money, or health items. So what I am trying to say is that there is a lot to pick up and collect. I don't remember the game being so packed with content, but it is.

The game is a major challenge, but not in an unfair way. Most of the difficulty comes from taking hits when melee attacking with your sword. Enemies can block and counterattack if you aren't careful. Many fights require much more of a tactical approach, similar to something you'd see in a Dark Souls game. I hate to make that comparison, because I think it is a lazy comparison that too many people make when going back and playing old games. But I think it is appropriate here. I've played a LOT of retro games, and this is probably the one that made me think of Dark Souls the most. This is not a typical platformer like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro. You have to approach sword play and combat from a more cautious angle. If you don't put an effort into defense and blocking, you are going to have a bad time.

While most enemies like to fight hand to hand, other enemies throw projectiles at you. Again, you always have to be on the lookout. It always seems like you are side stepping danger every direction you turn. Perhaps the thing that is the most "unfair" is the fact that enemies just pop up out of the ground with little to no warning. You can think you have a clear path to the level exit when BAM a whole bunch of skeleton guards pop up and attack before you can even react. You always have to be cautious in this game, or you aren't going to have a good time. I suppose this keeps in line with the original games.

The other major challenge comes from the platforming difficulty. The game is filled with bottomless pits that kill you instantly. Lives aren't easy to come by in this game, and you have to pay coins to save your game. So again, if you aren't cautious, you are not going to have a good time.

Once I figured out how the game works (the jumping, the combat, the level structure, etc) I really began to enjoy it. It had me hooked for sure. I would spend my hour or two of free time a day obsessively playing this game. When I was babysitting or at work, my mind would often turn to Maximo and how much I wanted to just cancel my obligations so I could play it some more. To me, that is the sign of a great game. Something that occupies your mind even when you aren't playing it.




Graphics:

This game still looks great, despite the fact that it is 23 years old. I love the world of the game, with its cemeteries, swamps, crumbling castles, frozen shipwrecks, and your trip to the Underworld towards the end of the game. It is a very well-realized fantasy/medieval setting. You fight ghosts, skeletons, zombies, and all kinds of creatures that would fit right into a Halloween themed game. Not that this is a Halloween game, but it does share a lot of common themes.

The world is 3D and fully explorable. Everything looks pretty sharp. There was never a moment where I thought "that hasn't aged well." It's not the most gorgeous or beautiful game ever. It is definitely a PS2 game. That said, it looks perfectly fine to me. If they ever decide to remaster this game with today's technology, they could really make it look incredible.




Sound:

This game has a really good soundtrack. I can still hum the main level theme even though I finished this game several days ago. It has stuck with me. The stage music fits perfectly with the medieval fantasy setting. They managed to craft a fun, cartoonish land full of magic and monsters, and the music lends it much authenticity. While it is reminiscent of the music from the original games in the G&G series, for the most part it does its own thing. I never thought that the music sounded lazy or recycled. It doesn't rely on nostalgia for the series. It's good on its own!

You do hear a remixed version of the Ghosts n' Goblins music play during the end credits. That was a treat. I guess this makes it more than just a spiritual successor. This cements it as an actual entry in the series, right?




Overall:

I'm still shocked at how good of a time I had with this. I came into it with little to no expectations, and I came away from it thinking WOW, that was a really good game! I was hooked from the minute I first picked it up. I'd play it all night, I'd play it when the kiddo was at school, I'd play it on my lunch break. I couldn't get Maximo out of my head. I can't say that many other games I have played recently have had my attention like that.

Maximo looks good, it sounds good, and it is the perfect level of challenge for me. For casual gamers, it can be a bit on the tough side. And I went through some rough patches too. But for the most part, I thought the challenge level was just right. It never teetered over that edge of being too frustrating. And that's because the game is a fair difficulty. You don't get screwed over left and right by cheap deaths. When you die in this game, 9 times out of 10 it is because you weren't being careful enough.

This game gets an easy recommendation from me. If you've never played Maximo before, you need to run out and play it now. I do understand that this won't be for everyone, though. If you come into this thinking it is going to be some cutesy platformer, you are going to be in for a huge surprise. I loved it, though, and I can't wait to check out its sequel (which I have never played) at some point in the near future.


THE GRADE:
A


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Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Can You Dig It? (16)




(00:00:00)

Mad TV
 - Woman attends a work party and breaks down when no one tries her macaroni salad
 - Lorraine comes to a casino buffet and annoys the man working there. She wants to pay in all nickels, sticks her entire head under the sneeze guard, and eats a hot pepper

COPS - High Times episode
 - Older white guy who says he is high on cocaine tries to run from the cops outside a hotel. The cops catch him and let him go, telling that he must leave the hotel for good because he had been causing them problems there.
 - A Hispanic guy tries to swallow drugs when he's in a car that gets pulled over. The cops wrestle him to the ground and get him to spit some out
 - Cops called to a gas station to investigate a vehicle parked at the gas pump for four hours. It's a really feminine gay guy with makeup on who he lies and says he was only there 10 minutes. Drugs are found in the car.

COPS - Resisting Arrest 2
 - Cops arrest a man hiding in a sleeping bag in someone's back yard. He struggles and gets tazed. The police dog bites his leg while the cops are wrestling with him. The cops go to a nearby house and arrest his accomplice who is hiding in bed.
 - Black man who says he is high on cocaine hides from the cops in a giant pipe tunnel thingy but is caught and arrested
 - Cops arrest a man named Javier who is hiding under a bed in the house of his ex girfriend who he abuses. Why she would harbor him and lie and say he is not there I have no idea.

(51:28)

Survivor Palau preview on the TV Guide channel. Outback contestant Jeff Varner hosts the program. Jeff Probst talks about his favorite moments, such as Sue Hawk's speech. He also talks about his love affair with Julie. The Palau contestants talk about past Survivors.

American Idol 4
 - Contestants arrive in Hollywood. Contestants sing for the judges individually and tons of cuts are made. Shunta Warthen gets on the wrong bus and has to take a cab back to the theater. Contestants shown singing: Carrie Underwood, Sarah Mather, Anthony Fedorov, Amanda Avila, Travis Tucker, and Lindsay Cardinale.
 
*in the commercials we cut to a George W. Bush clip montage where he messes up his words during speeches*

AI4 (cont)
 - Nadia Turner, David Brown, Scott Savol, and Anwar Robinson sing Stevie Wonder songs. Bo Bice is shown on the beach. Vonzell Solomon and Mario Vasquez sing. Bo Bice, Constantine, and some other rocker guy sing the Letter.  Mikalah Gordon and Janay Castine sing.

Celtics player Kendrick Perkins is ejected from a game against the Bucks for throwing Desmond Mason to the court, causing a scufflle. The Bucks were leading 95-59 at the time of the incident. Clips are shown from the live game as well as ESPN. THIS is the game in question.

Dave Chappelle show skit where Tyrone the crackhead goes on Fear Factor. He goes to sleep lying down in a big box of worms and stands in hot coals. At the end he eats horse penis and wins. None of these things phase him... for he is Tyrone.

(1:43:30)

American Idol 4
 -This is the episode where the contestants have to sing in groups. There is drama among some of the groups, including Scott Savol's group where he goes to sleep instead of practicing. The weird Asian girl also is disruptive and annoys her group.

Project Runway clip where they talk about dresses

Ripley's Believe It or Not clip where the world's most tattooed man is interviewed. He's an outdoorsy kind of guy and has been living on an island alone for so many years he can't even remember how long he's been there. I've seen people with more tattoos than this guy, so I don't think he's the world's most tattooed man anymore.

American Idol 4
 - More group auditions. One of the groups, an all male crooner group, forgets all their words and is a trainwreck but the judges put them through.

Project Runway clip where Austin (the blonde haired really feminine gay guy) reminisces and talks about his time on the show after getting voted out. 

(2:23:51)

COPS
 - White guy is arrested while driving stolen car. He stole it from a black man who left it running while going into a store.
 - In the opening credit montage before the next clip, Jessie/Joycie is shown doing her chicken walk down the driveway
 - Weird white guy with a purple bandana is pulled over while driving without a license. He is wearing a DARE shirt, and drugs are found on him, lol. The cops even comment on this.
 - Crackhead looking blonde lady is found sleeping in a car. The vehicle is searched and drugs are found, of course. The vehicle was also stolen.

AI4. In one of the final audition rounds, contestants must sing a cappella and are divided into 4 rooms, 2 of which are cut. Most of the attention is focused on the contestants who don't make it, although there are a few good people shown like Carrie Underwood, Vonzell Solomon, and Anthony Fedorov.

AI4. This is the round where the judges select who will make the top 24. One by one the players must take an elevator up to a room where the judges deliver their fate. A black woman named Faith has a breakdown after getting rejected and gets off the elevator on the wrong floor, She annoys the other contestants by being a bad sport about it.

Project Runway finale. First, there's a clip where a few contestants stumble around their words. Some of the models come out they start to talk to them but then it cuts back to American Idol.

AI4 (cont). Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis are accepted into the Top 24. 

Another Project Runway finale clip. This clip centers around people arguing about the merits of the show

AI4 (cont) Scott Savol and Travis Tucker make it through, completing the top 24.  A music montage highlights many of the memorable moments up to this point in the show. Seacrest announces the official top 12 guys and the top 12 girls by name, and they all do a stupid little dance.

(3:59:11)

More clips from Project Runway. Wendy Pepper is going to show them what it's all about.

MXC. Seafood vs High Society
 - Saddle Sores
 - Hook, Line, and Swingers
 - Rotating Surfboard of Death
 - Log Drop. Jacques Babaganoosh is the final contestant and makes it across.
 
(4:16:40)

VH1 Goes Behind COPS. Awesome! A lot of my favorite clips are shown or discussed here.
 - The origins of COPS is discussed. It originally started out as a Geraldo Rivera show called American Vice.
 - The first episode is discussed, and it's the one where the cop yells "Stop or I'll shoot you in the back!" I have this episode on a previous tape.
 - Police pull a man from a canal
 - Police talk about the episode (which I also have) where a cop knocks out the windows on a house that wasn't on fire.
 - Officer Maldonado talks about the episode where he chases a white man with a mullet and pulls him over the fence. I also have this on another tape.
 - John Bunnell discusses the episode where he exercises a search warrant on a house and finds a marijuana growing operation. They take all the valuables, including the car. I also have this one on a tape.
 - Clips of people resisting and verbally abusing the cops. It discusses how the cops deal with people who resist.
 - Police discuss the episode where the Mexican guy with the knife on the highway is shot by the police. I have this one too.
 - Cops investigate a stabbing where a black man was stabbed after walking in on his wife and mom messing around.
 - Episode where the woman loses her dentures out the window when her husband shoves cheese into her mouth.
 - Drunk people clips, including that guy who says that he's Superman and reads the cops their rights.
 - Camera men and their involvement are discussed
 - Naked man in barber shop and other naked people are discussed
 - Mardi Gras episodes are discussed
 - Empty car drives around in circles in a parking lot
 - Undercover cop dresses as an Arab sheik busts prostitutes
 - Drunk and high guy reports his car stolen after he loaned his car to someone else to go pick him up drugs
 - I don't sell drugs I'm a prostitute
 - The origins of the COPS theme song is discussed
 - Jersey cop talks about being called dude and papi

(4:54:18)

Hey! Spring of Trivia
 - Lobsters travel in straight lines
 - Some shellfish shoot poison darts
 - Nobody can keep a starfish tied up
 - Scallops are strong swimmers
 - The market value of fish in an aquarium is assessed

(5:10:37)

Westminster dog show clips. A very cute Pomeranian is shown, as well as many other dogs such as golden retrievers.

COPS
 - Police try to pull over a white Dodge Durango but the car leads them on a chase. Eventually the vehicle crashes, and two black men try to run on foot. But they are caught and arrested. The rest of the COPS clips in this little block of episodes are Mardi Gras clips.
 - Group of dudes arrested at Mardi Gras and stolen money is returned to two old people
 - Black pickpocket guy is captured and arrested
 - A Girls Gone Wild balcony with Snoop Dogg causes rioting down on the streets. It's funny because they mention this episode on the VH1 COPS special that's a few entries back.
 - More crowd control at Mardi Gras. Fights are broken up and the police clean up the streets and make everyone leave when Mardi Gras is officially over.

(5:31:13)

AI4. Top 12 Guys perform. Not all are shown
 - Scott Savol sings You Are My Lady
 - Bo Bice performance of Drift Away
 - Constantine sings Kiss From a Rose
 - Anwar Robinson: Moon River
 - Mario Vazquez sings Do I Do
 - Recap with small clips of evety performance, including the ones I didn't record

COPS
 - Shirtless nutty white guy arrested outside a Baker's Square. He had tried to forge checks, and took off his shirt in the hopes that the police would not recognize him from the description they were given. He yells weird things while getting taken down, such as "I'm not a black male, I'm a white male!"

(5:54:20)

AI4. Top 12 Girls perform. Again, not all are shown
 - Vonzell Solomon sings Heatwave
 - Sarah Mather sings Get Ready and sucks
 - Nadia Turner: The Power of Love
 - Mikalah Gordon's performance of Young Hearts Run Free
 - Recap of the night


END OF TAPE



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Sunday, April 6, 2025

Video Game Review #570: Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2
Nintendo 64


Nostalgia Factor:

I've been a Resident Evil 2 fan for the PlayStation since the moment I first laid eyes on it. I played the heck out of it when I was a teenager and I still come back to it from time to time because I like it so much. It's been a while, though. The last time I played the game was back in 2017 and I gave it an A+ score. 

I've always known that there was a Nintendo 64 version of this game, but I always dismissed it. I would think to myself: there's no way the N64 can handle this game. I bet it is a crappy port. It came out back in 1999, and in the ensuing 26 years I have never even thought of checking this version out... until now!

In recent months I've stumbled across a few online reviews of this game, praising it for its quality. The reviewers pointed out what a technical marvel this game is, as it took two CDs to fit the whole game on it for the PS1, but they could fit it all on one cartridge for the N64. According to the reviewers, it was a near perfect port.

Due to these remarks, I decided to check the game out. I've been wanting to revisit Resident Evil 2 anyway, since it's been 8 years since I played it last. I also haven't reviewed a Nintendo 64 game in a long time. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to take care of both problems at the same time. Let's dive in, shall we?




Story:

Admittedly, this is a lazy move from my end. But nothing has changed regarding the game's story. Nothing. Check out my 2017 review if you want a full breakdown. But I ain't taking the time to do that here.




Gameplay:

I've already written a complete breakdown of how the game works. Call me lazy if you want, but check out the 2017 review of this game if you want the full scoop.

Are there any differences between this game and the PS1 original? Not really any that I could see. I never spent much time with it, but I seem to remember there being some kind of "time attack" mode on the PS1 game after you beat it. I completed this game with both characters (A and B scenarios) and I did not see the same mode unlocked here. Either I did something wrong where it did not unlock, or it is not here in the N64 version.

Aside from that, this is pretty much identical in gameplay to the original game. Oh wait! I seem to remember the ability to lock onto enemies when firing at them in the PS1 game. That ability is not present here. I found myself having to manually aim the entire game, which was a pain in the butt. It also seems the ability to quickly do a 180 spin is missing from the game too. I didn't realize how much I used it until I couldn't anymore. Oh well. The absence of the quick spin and the lock on ability made the game slightly more challenging for me. I can breeze through this game normally, so I guess the extra challenge was appreciated.




Graphics:

The biggest difference between this game and the PS1 original is the graphics. I understand that a drop in quality is to be expected when moving this game from disc to cartridge, so I am not mad about it. 

Don't let the screenshots fool you. Even though I googled the N64 version of this game, all the results look better than the game did when I was actually playing it. The characters are more pixelated than they were before. The backgrounds a little darker and muddier. I also noticed some weird staticy green stuff popping up on the edge of the screen as I played. Sometimes when the camera angle would change, I'd see a flash of the green staticy stuff on the entire screen before the angle would change. It was only for a brief microsecond, but it was definitely distracting. Maybe it was just my copy of the game, but I always felt like it was close to crashing at any second.

Despite the minor drop in graphical quality, I still really liked the game. The slight dip in graphics was not enough to affect my enjoyment of the game one tiny bit. Not only am I super impressed they fit a whole 2-CD game on one cartridge, but they fit the cutscenes on here, too. Wild.

This version of the game allows you to change the color of blood when you or an enemy is wounded. I was going to play with default red, but accidentally changed it to blue when looking through my options. I'm glad I did it though, because seeing blue blood constantly spurt out gives the game a unique feel to the original. I noticed the gore toned down in other areas, as zombie heads don't explode when they are hit with the shotgun at close range. Typical Nintendo censorship.




Sound:

This sounds just as good as the PS1 version. I didn't notice any real differences. I played this in the dark with headphones on, and really got absorbed into the action.




Overall:

I'm shocked at how good this version of the game is. The only major difference is the graphics. It definitely does not look quite as good as the original game. But it is still impressive, considering the hardware limitations. 

The gameplay is unchanged. I often forgot I was playing an alternate version of the game as I made my way through it. It is just as fun as ever. There are a few small differences, but this game is just as fun to play as it was before. That said: in the future when I get the itch to play the game again, I am going to pick the PlayStation version. As good as this one is, it just isn't quite as good as the original.

I'm struggling with my final grade, here. I've always stood by my opinion that graphics don't matter. It is the gameplay that counts. And as far as this game goes, the gameplay is pretty much unchanged from the original RE2. It's still a fun, fantastic game. The original got an A+ from me. If graphics truly don't matter, this should get an A+ too, right? But like I said, if and when I decide to play RE2 again, it is going to be the PS1 version. So that means this one is worse, and that this should be reflected in the final score.... right?

I'm actually going to go with the regular A. I give out too many A pluses, and it is clear that this is the inferior version of the game. An A is still a great score. And honestly, the fact that they fit this all on one cartridge was almost impressive enough to give the game and A+ no matter what.

If you were an N64 kid growing up, and you didn't have a PlayStation, this would have been the perfect alternative to the other game. I would have been totally satisfied with this as a kid. As an adult, it is a fun curiosity that you should definitely check out if you have the means.


THE GRADE:
A


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Saturday, April 5, 2025

Peanut Tape (15)



(00:00:00)

American Idol 4 - New Orleans auditions w/ Gene Simmons as guest judge
 - David Brown's audition
 - Fat gay guy sings and Simon doesn't like his image. He makes the guy sing behind a certain and still says no to him
 - Creepy guy who looks like a magician or something sings Delilah and I Put a Spell on You
 - Lindsay Cardinale audition
 - White dorky guy who Simon thinks looks like a gymnast sings Dancing in the Streets and is awful
 - Montage of bad singers
 - Tall Arab man named Sundeep sings Eye of the Tiger
 - The Incomprehensibles
 - Leroy Wells audition. Can you dig it?
 - The Malfetta twins are rejected
 - Preview from upcoming episodes

(37:49) 

Ripley's Believe it or Not
 - Twins who are joined at the head. They both live together but have different jobs. One of them has a goal of becoming a country singer, so the Ripley's folks bring her to a recording studio and let her sing. It isn't very good.
 - Young Arab girl who chews on her hair has an enormous 3 pound hairball removed from her gut

Police Videos
 - Naked guy runs from the cops and asks them if they've ever seen Star Wars
 - Wild traffic chase

GTA San Andreas commercial

Crank Yankers
 - Man calls Alaskan woman asking her to be his compass buddy. He has her recite a funny little pledge
 - Young woman calls an old black man who had put a personal ad out in the paper and says inappropriate sexual things to him
 - Old geezer calls a travel agency looking to book a gay cruise
 - Special Ed calls a cafeteria and asks "Do you have Jell-o?" repeatedly. Yay!! I love Jello.
 - Radio station calls an office and asks a man to touch his co-worker's crotch and yell "I have the junk!" for a prize
 - Pop Warner football coach is called by crazy guy who wants to sign his son up
 - Man calls rabbi with questions about converting to Judaism. He pukes when they talk about circumcision and having to give up Christmas

(1:10:55)

COPS
 - Woman calls 911 while people are breaking into her house and you can hear them in the background. The police arrive and find the two intruders shot by someone who was helping the occupants of the house.
 - Police respond to a drive by shooting and find a hysterical woman covered in blood. Her boyfriend had been shot

American Idol 4 - Las Vegas auditions. Kenny Loggins is a guest judge
 - Mikala Gordon audition
 - Neil Diamond fan sings with a stabbing motion
 - Bad singer montage
 - Amanda Avila audition
 - Richard Malfetta returns by himself to audition

Mad TV
 - Crazy old lady named Lorraine gets into a car accident with a rich woman

American Idol 4 (cont)
 - Bubbly girl who looks like Colleen from Survivor makes it through
 - Guy who is way too old to be there auditions and says he's only 28
 - Dino Yazzie's brother Dezzie auditions
 - Another bad singer montage
 - Fat psychic lady sings poorly
 - Fat ugly lady sings but is actually good
 - Mario Vazquez audition

(2:03:41)

Crank Yankers
 - Special Ed calls Alcoholics Anonymous
 - Rudy calls a clinic to ask inappropriate questions about breast feeding
 - Elmer calls the mall to complain about how a group of "colored" kids knocked him and his wife over and slapped him while they were trying to get up
 - Motivational speaker calls a restaurant for reservations
 - Dumb Hawaiian calls a kid looking for a housesitter position
 - Woman calls a telemarketing company looking for a job, and the man on the line makes her do funny voices  
 - Rapper guy calls a woman at the market asking dirty questions about peaches and roast beef curtains, and then hits on her 

(2:22:40)

COPS
 - 2 black people and a Mexican are caught trying to steal a bicycle by lifting it over a fence. They lie and say they were trying to throw the bike over the fence.

Clip from the movie Red Sonya. Sonya and an old man walk on the beach and talk 

ESPN interview with Dwyane Wade where he talks about playing with Shaq. This is the same year they won the championship but beforehand

AFV. The Bob Saget years... sweet!
 - Racers jump over a hurdle and into a big pool of water
 - Bike racer runs into the camera
 - Lady golfer hits a ball into the wind and it comes back to where it started
 - Ping pong player crashes into a wall
 - Man tries to catch frisbee on a motor scooter and crashes
 - Little kid tries to direct some kind of story time video and gets mad when everyone messes up their parts
 - Dictionary definitions of the words: balance, buoyancy, synchronize, confidence, bisect, and momentum.... which are paired with funny clips as they are read
 - Boy jumps out of a box and scares mom
 - Funny cat clips
 - "It's Your Thang" music montage
 - Raccoon bites sleeping man on nose
 - Angry little girl bashes at a pinata relentlessly
 - At the end it isn't shown who wins but that's okay because the final 3 clips all suck anyway as usual for AFV
 
Jeff Dunham special on Comedy Central
 - First skit is about Melvin, the little boy who thinks he's a superhero
 - The second skit is all Peanut
 - The third skit involves Jalapeno on a stick coming out and interacting with Peanut
 - Fourth skit is the cranky old man Walter
 
(3:03:30)

That depressing TV special about mistreated bears. At least they are rescued

COPS
 - Man pulled over with a prostitute in his car. It's a trans woman who doesn't know who Jeffrey Dahmer is.

Medical Incredible on the Discovery Channel
 - Lobster claw syndrome. A woman had only 2 fingers/toes on her hands and feet that look like lobster claws
 - Woman takes an antibiotic and has an extreme reaction to it where she loses her outer skin
 - Small segment about how people can grow horns
 - People with Ehler's Danlos Syndrome that makes them flexible but also prone to having their bones pop out and become dislocated
 - Elephant man and other overgrowth syndrome deformities are discussed. A man has feet that won't stop growing and has to have surgery. Also a black child with an enormous hand and finger.
 - Man has fingers torn off in construction accident and has to have toes put on in their place. Also, leeches are used.
 - Maggots used to cure open wounds and infections
 
(3:52:51)

American Idol 4. Cleveland auditions
 - Fat ugly chick who looks like a troll auditions and she is actually good, but the judges say no
 - Montage of bad people
 - Scott Savol audition
 - Mime audition... she doesn't actually sing she just mimes it. Simon jokes that it was better than most people.
 - Weird guy in overalls sings
 - Two enormous black women audition and are rejected because they are terrible
 - Goth girl sings opera style is accepted because of her range
 - Anthony Fedorov audition

AI4. Orlando auditions
 - A bunch of bad people kick off the show
 - Vonzell Solomon audition
 - Montage of people who fake out their friends by hiding the yellow slips
 - Dancing black guy who sings James Brown. Paula lobbies for him and the other judges begrudgingly say yes.
 
Crank Yankers
 - Nun calls kids responding to a personal ad and they keep asking what she's calling about
 - Black mother calls to complain about an old man hanging out in the ball pit with the kids and makes ball jokes
 - Old man calls about wanting to join driving school so they can drive him around to run errands
 - Indian man calls to complain that a dreamcatcher that he bought is giving him bad dreams
 - Rudy calls a video store looking to rent porn and the guy is rude to him and insults him. Buttholestar Galasstica is one of the videos shown in the background
 - Jack Osbourne calls him mom and tricks her to thinking he got arrested

(4:48:19)

AI4. San Francisco auditions. Brandy is a guest judge
 - Mexican guy sings "Wanna Be Startin' Something" and sucks
 - Feminine gay guy sings and sounds like a girl. Simon makes fun of him.
 - Two crooner guys sing and are accepted
 - Crazy Asian girl in fishnets is accepted
 - Black boy makes it through and his mom collapses in excitement
 - Gay guy in a mohawk sucks
 - White rapper is denied
 - Nadia Turner audition
 - Belligerent white guy is denied and flips out and is a bad sport.
 - White guy sings Chain of Fools and sucks
 - White man sings We Are the Champions and they say he sounds exactly like Freddy Mercury
 - Bad people montage
 - JP Malfetta returns to audition and is denied
 - Previews of the road ahead

COPS
 - Old woman calls police on abusive alcoholic husband. He is brought into the station and cries and begs not to be locked up but he is anyway. The tape is pretty shitty here and it becomes unwatchable towards the end.
 - Puerto Rican guy is arrested for roughing up a white man. The guy complains that he's only getting arrested because of racism and the cops agree sarcastically.

Discovery Health channel special about the emergency room. Boy severs his finger in shop class. This isn't a very long segment.

Family Matters. Urkel buys concert tickets and wants to take Laura as his date, but then has second thoughts when he realizes she doesn't care about him and only wants to see the concert. Carl is depressed because it's the one year anniversary of a hostage standoff where a man was killed. This is a sad one.

Family Matters. Urkel brings home an ape named Lowell. Carl starts working out. Tape ends like halfway through the episode.
 

END OF TAPE




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Friday, April 4, 2025

Re-Review #20: The Last of Us Remastered

The Last of Us Remastered
PlayStation 4

For my original review of this game, click


I recently rewatched the first season of The Last of Us TV series. The second season is coming out later in the year, and honestly I didn't remember much about the first season. It came out when I was raising an infant, which was a crazy, sleep deprived chapter of my life. Now that things have settled down a little, I figured I'd come back and refresh my memory of the show so I'd be ready for season two.

A side effect of watching the show is that it gave me the itch to come back and play through this game again. I tried to ignore that itch. For some reason in my mind, I thought that I had played through this game "a ton of times" in the past. And the whole point of this blog is to motivate me to push forward and play new games - not play the same thing over and over again. But when I looked back at my review for the game, I noticed I hadn't played through it since 2018. That's seven years ago now. I had to do a double take. Had it really been seven years since I'd played through The Last of Us? Wow. It seemed so recent in my memory. Time is flying since I became a dad. I decided to say "screw it" and dive back in.

Having played through this game before, plus having watched the first season of the TV series twice in recent years, I pretty much knew what to expect coming in. Nothing was a surprise here. I guess the biggest surprise to me was seeing how different the game and the show are in parts. And seeing how different the characters look and sound. I don't mind the differences, though. If they were going to simply make the show a beat-for-beat recreation of the game, what would the point even be? It would be the same damn thing. I'm glad they took some creative liberties when making the show.

But enough about the show. This is about the game. I gave it an A+ in 2018. Is it still an A+ game today?

Why yes. Yes it is.

It really does have one of the best narratives in gaming. The story made me want to keep pushing forward. It was hard to turn off the system at night when it was time to go to bed. I wanted to keep playing! As good as the story is, the game wouldn't be any good if it was not fun to play. I can safely say that this game is indeed very fun. The combat is good with its mix of action and stealth mechanics. And there's just something super satisfying about scrounging around and finding items you can use to craft things.

The graphics are beautiful. The music is terrific. The voice acting is as good as it gets. When critics shower praise on The Last of Us, it is not because they are just jumping on the bandwagon. It truly is a great game. I'm not going to go so far as to say it's the best game of all time, or anything like that. But it's definitely somewhere in my top 40 or 50. I've played a lot of games in my life, so that is pretty high praise.

Should you play The Last of Us? Of course you should. I don't know what you are doing reading this if you have never played it. If you haven't - what are you waiting for? Get out and play it now. If you have played it before, hopefully you liked it as much as I did. Whether you did or not, you can't deny its importance and the impact it has had on storytelling in video games for the last 10 years or so. Definitely an all-time classic game. It was an A+ when I first played it back in 2013, it was an A+ when I reviewed it in 2018, and it is an A+ here in in 2025.



THE GRADE:
A+



For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click

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